The present invention relates generally to computer database systems, and specifically to an apparatus for visualizing information having dynamic formats stored in a data warehousing environment.
Few could foresee the rapid development of computer technology just a few years ago. Computers now have a place in our homes, our offices, our schools and even our briefcases and satchels. As computer automation continues to impact an ever increasing portion of our daily lives, governments, businesses and individuals have turned to database technology to help them manage the “information explosion,” the exponential proliferation of information that must be sorted, assimilated and managed on a continuing basis. One area of importance to the database design field is data model selection for database applications.
A data model represents the structure or organization of data stored in the database. It enables the use of data in certain forms and may limit the data being used in other forms. Different applications usually require different data models. Many different data models can exist, and they usually differ markedly from one another. Typically, database applications are customized to a particular data model of a particular database. Usually, these applications must be re-implemented for every database, even though the functioning of the application remains the same.
Presently, database developers have turned to data warehousing technology to resolve often conflicting data management requirements. Traditional data warehousing approaches focus on decision support applications, which emphasize summarized information having static formats. While perceived advantages exist, an inherent disadvantage to these systems is that the customer identity is lost. Further, usability of customer data analyses techniques can be improved over traditional approaches for displaying analysis results and database content to the user.
What is needed is an apparatus for analyzing customer data contained in databases, data marts and data warehouses and present the information in dynamic formats.